


syncopation

by seraphecda



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, M/M, Slow Build, Twilight Town, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2018-10-27 03:51:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10801113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seraphecda/pseuds/seraphecda
Summary: nothing's like beforeChange hits Twilight Town in a series of mysterious events that Hayner hates and Roxas loves.





	1. prologue

The residents of Twilight Town are unassuming. There’s shopkeepers who mind their own business and know your order before you even open your mouth. There’s schoolkids who run around like it’s always summer vacation. There’s the conductor at the train station, who can only take you to either the beach or Sunset Terrace, and doesn’t worry about whether you have exact change for fare. There’s the Struggle Contest that happens every summer, without fail, and gets the entire town hyped up.

And then there’s Seifer Almasy. The new kid in town who keeps babbling on about some “seed” and asking everyone (including Olette’s pet cat) whether they know anything about the situation in Galbadia.

No one knows what he’s talking about, and Hayner figures he’s finally started to realize it by the way he’s been sulking around the streets, kicking angrily at pebbles.

A week later, two more new kids move in: Fu and Rai. They spout the same nonsense as Seifer and clop around in their steel-toed combat boots trying to figure out how to get out of the town. When the conductor apologetically lets them know that the trains only go to either the beach or Sunset Terrace, they begin to realize there’s no way out of Twilight Town.

(But then, how did they get in?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in case the summary didn't tip you off (or you have absolutely no backing in Final Fantasy VIII, which is totally fine!), this fic is a bit of a take on why Seifer isn't in Traverse Town with Leon, and how the whole "destroyed worlds" thing works, especially since Twilight Town and Traverse Town both occupy the realm between light and dark. Essentially: maybe there's not only one place you can end up being dropped into if your world is destroyed.
> 
> There'll be some references to the events of FFVIII, but it's not mandatory at all to read on :)


	2. ruckus

“I told you, man, I don’t know anything about seed!” Hayner repeats for what feels like the billionth time when Seifer corners him on his way to the hideout. “You wanna take up gardening? Talk to the lady at the flower shop.”

He feels himself get shoved up against the wall, his shoulders scraping against the bricks, Seifer’s fingers in a vice around his neck. “You think this is a joke to me?” Seifer asks furiously. “There’s a war going on, how do you not know about it?”

“If you wanna fight so bad, why not join the struggle tournament? Seems you got a lot of pent-up aggression,” Hayner quips, quoting his therapist and trying his best to count down from ten, trying to ignore the way his throat constricted. “Could help with those anger issues of yours.”

Seifer scoffs and lets go, and Hayner crumples back to the ground. “Fuck you. And fuck everyone else in this tiny ignorant town.”

“Dude, look. We don’t fucking know what you’re talking about. You’re clearly living in some delusion--”

“Rai and Fu know what I’m talking about--”

“Then you’re just a bunch of losers with eighth-grade syndrome,” Hayner growls, getting up. “So stop fucking messing with us and go play war by yourselves.”

He starts off back down the alley, only turning back out of curiosity to see Seifer’s fist collide with the wall. Hayner walks faster. Why did he always get caught up in everyone else’s messes?

~

It takes a couple hours for them to set in, but Olette notices the bruises first. Of course she does, she’s the only one who ever peers at him that closely, stares him down with that stern gaze of hers until he finally speaks.

“It’s nothing, okay? Jeez,” Hayner says, but this time they look like fingerprints, long and striped across his neck, and he wonders how much longer he can keep his run-in’s with Seifer a secret. His hand goes to the marks on his neck, gently brushing them so he doesn’t flinch. Just another to add to the list. His wrists were healing up, looking less blue and more tan again, but the hit he took to the shoulder still hurt like a bitch. He rolls it, hoping Olette doesn’t notice that too.

“You need to stop getting into fights--”

“You need to stop acting like my mother,” Hayner interrupts impatiently. “There wasn’t a fight.”

“What happened then?” Pence asks, looking up from the homework they’re working on.

Hayner wishes they’d all just drop it. “Nothing. Why don’t you guys trust me?”

“Because it looks like someone tried to choke you?”

Oh yeah. That. Hayner rolls his eyes. “Where’s Roxas, anyway? Didn’t we agree to meet up like an hour ago to practice for the tournament?”

It's a bad segway and he knows it, but Olette probably takes pity on him because then she answers: “Grounded.”

“Again,” Pence adds.

Hayner frowns. “Why?”

“Well… remember Axel? The guy who wouldn’t stop stalking him around?”

Hayner groans. “Yeah, what about him?”

Olette hesitates, fiddling and pulling at her fingers as she exchanges a look with Pence. “They’re dating.”

“ _What?_ ”

“You heard her,” Pence says.

Hayner leans back and looks up at the canopy that drapes over their hideout, the light that filters through their makeshift ceiling of tarp and cardboard. “I can’t believe this town’s going to hell.”

“That’s an exaggeration if I ever heard one,” Olette says with a laugh. “Don’t be so overdramatic.”

“It’s _changing_ ,” Hayner insists. “Don’t you guys see it?”

“Change is good,” Pence says with a shrug.

“Change _can_ be good. Not always,” Hayner says. “Seifer and his cronies bring nothing but trouble. Axel’s just one part of that creepy gang that hangs around that old mansion.”

“They’re not a gang. They’re scientists who rented out the building to carry out their research in,” Olette starts reciting as if it was study material from one of their textbooks. “If it weren’t for them, the old mansion would’ve been an economic deadweight on the town and our taxes would have to pay for the upkeep of an empty building.”

“Scientists with _bodyguards_ ,” Hayner adds. “ What scientist needs bodyguards?”

“Their work is classified.”

“But Olette--”

“Hayner, we’ve gone through all of this,” Olette interrupts, exasperated. “And if you have such a huge problem with Axel, you can talk to Roxas about it tomorrow at school. I’m sure he’d be happy to soothe your anxieties.”

Pence nods at his other side. “She’s right, man. There’s no point rehashing this stuff, especially when this homework’s due tomorrow and we’re barely a couple questions in.”

Hayner groans. “Fine. What question were we on?”

~

Hayner stares at himself in the bathroom mirror as he brushes his teeth. The bruises don’t look that bad, but they’re still there. He’s just glad it’s almost summer vacation, so he doesn’t need to worry about the school counselor getting on his back about it. He doesn’t need her, his mom, Olette, _and_ his therapist hyped up on the same shit, along with all of his nosy classmates.

He’s beginning to see why Roxas hates this place so much.

Roxas… with Axel. Hayner shakes his head and spits out his toothpaste. Fucking weird. His best friend with that creep? He doesn’t want to believe it (and yet it’s still true).

Seifer’s the real problem. Him and Fu and Rai. All of them were crazy and violent and yet the town let them rampage around like that, like they weren’t threatening civilians, like Hayner was the one picking fights and not them. Jeez. Hayner might be an angry kid, but even he doesn’t just pick a fight out of nowhere.

He finishes up in the bathroom and climbs into bed, the screen of his phone lighting up the room as he checks his messages.

 _roxas_ _  
_ _> >hey man sorry i couldnt make it today. did olette tell u what happened?_ _  
_ _> >should be able to meet up tomorrow after school. hideout or the terrace?_

Hayner frowns and types out a quick response.

 _hayner_ _  
_ _> >hideout_

~

Hayner slings his messenger bag from his shoulder and grabs toast on his way out the door. Just a couple more weeks of school. Just a little longer, then he doesn’t have to think about it for a couple of months.

Summer vacation is so close...

“Hey!” A loud voice interrupts his thoughts and Hayner swears under his breath.

Seifer’s standing at the top of the hill with his hands on his hips. Hayner judges his slicked-back hair and high-rise cargos so hard. Even his baggy trench coat is overkill, especially in this heat. “You said there was a struggle tournament.”

“I sure did,” Hayner responds, wondering where the hell this is going as he continues up the hill.

“If I win, what do I get?”

“A trophy. Bragging rights for a year.”

“Then, let’s up the ante.”

Hayner frowns. “To what, exactly?”

“If I kick your ass, you have to help me figure out where this world is and why I can’t get back to mine.”

“How about this,” Hayner says. “I’ll give you that info for free! You’re in Twilight Town. You can’t get out because the trains only go as far as the beaches across the peninsula.”

“But _why_? You gotta admit that shit’s weird, right?”

“What’s so weird about it?” Hayner asks, passing him. “Anyway, you coming to class or did you forget that school is a normal thing in this world too?”

Seifer scrunches his nose up at him. “Bet your school doesn’t train soldiers,” he mutters.

~

Turns out, Seifer’s not registered in the system. At all. His records aren’t on the District School Board’s file, and they don’t recognize his passport or birthplace as valid, legitimate, or even real.

He’s a nobody.

Hayner flips through Seifer’s wallet as they stand by the secretary’s desk. “Fake ID?”

“It’s real. I’m not from here, remember?” Seifer says through clenched teeth.

“Damn straight you’re not from here,” Hayner mutters, turning Seifer’s passport over in his hands. “But Balamb isn’t on the map. Who makes an entire set of fake IDs without at least trying to make it look realistic?”

“Why are you even here?” Seifer asks, annoyed. “I thought you had class.”

“I got assigned to help out the helpless transfer.”

Seifer glares at him. “You’re skipping.”

“So? Not like homeroom matters with only a week to go.”

“And here I thought you’d be like your studious friend,” Seifer mutters, and he almost sounds disappointed. “Figures.”

Hayner scowls. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Seifer just shrugs, leaning back against the secretary’s desk. “Hey so, if I’m not a citizen or whatever, I can’t attend here?”

“You can’t, unless you can show me some real ID,” the secretary says, and Hayner can tell she’s straight-up irritated with this entire situation.

“That’s that, then,” he says with a shrug. “Let’s get out of here--”

“It’s _real_ ,” Seifer says, hands slamming on the desk. “Where else would I come from?”

“Don’t scare the poor woman,” Hayner says, feeling his irritation spike too as he grabs Seifer’s wrist and drags him out of the office and out the front doors. “You’ve been here for what, just over two weeks or something? And you _still_ can’t stop spouting that Galbadia story?”

“Two weeks living here and eighteen years living in Balamb, but _sure_ \--”

“You’re eighteen?” Hayner asks, shocked. “Then why bother enrolling in a high school?”

They’re by the front gates of the school and Seifer shakes his wrist out of Hayner’s grip. “Because. I don’t fucking _know_. What are my options when I’m not even supposed to be here in the first place?” Seifer lets out a frustrated breath.

The way Seifer looks at him makes Hayner feel almost guilty.

He turns away. “Whatever. You clearly don’t have the answers I need. I’m out of here.”

It’s when he’s gone that Hayner realizes he still has Seifer’s wallet clutched in his other hand.

Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I think this fic is gonna change pov chapter to chapter and I think the next chapter's gonna be roxas? we'll see~
> 
> hope u enjoyed!! lemme know what u liked so I can do more of it


	3. cracks

Roxas rushes out of class, nearly careening straight into a row of lockers as the class rep shouts at him “no running in the halls!” But he’s barely listening and doesn’t care. He’s got a date and he can’t be late. It’s not long before he’s through the school gates, phone buzzing in his hand.

 _olette_ _  
_ _ >>are you gonna join us for lunch? we’ll be out by the treeline. _

_roxas_ _  
_ _ >>on a date ;) _

He texts back, then shoves it back in his bag as he takes the skateboard off his back and makes his way toward Tram Common. Lunch period’s only an hour, after all, and he’s not about to waste any more of it. Axel promised him ice cream, and a surprise.

“A surprise?” he’d asked over the phone, when his parents were asleep and he didn’t need to worry about getting caught.

“Yeah, just for you kid.”

“Hey! I’m hardly a kid,” he says, almost forgetting not to raise his voice beyond a stage whisper.

“Graduate high school, then we’ll talk,” Axel responded with a crackling laugh. “But yeah. Tram Common, tomorrow. When’s your lunch period?”

“Twelve-thirty.”

“Sweet. See you then… kid.”

He’d hung up before Roxas could correct him.

When Roxas kicks his skateboard up into his palm, finally reaching their meeting place, he grins. Summer’s almost here, but it’s already in the air. He feels a sheen of sweat settle on his skin, the beginnings of a tan, and the hot sun burning bright overhead.

Twilight Town might be the worst, but summer always made Roxas think otherwise, if only for a couple months when school was out and he could do whatever he wanted (be whoever he wanted).

“Roxas!”

He spins around to see Axel in his usual long black hoodie. It’s not the one he’s used to, that comes down to his ankles. This time it only goes just below the tips of his fingers. “Axel!” he greets excitedly. “Is that your summer uniform?”

“Believe it or not these are my normal clothes,” Axel says, ruffling his hair. “I used to have a thing for bandannas, but we should both be glad that’s over.”

Roxas swipes his hand away and laughs. “Wow, you must’ve been a loser.”

“I’m _your_ loser.”

Roxas throws his skateboard back down and starts rolling lazy circles around Axel. “So, do we need real food before we get ice cream? Or did you already eat?”

“Didn’t you know sea salt ice cream hits all four food groups?”

“And what food groups are those?”

Axel counts off on his fingers, “Well, dairy for one.”

“And the rest?”

“Sweet, salty, and delicious!”

“A balanced breakfast,” Roxas nods sagely. “Or lunch.”

Axel grins. “Now you’re getting it!”

“Bet I can beat you there!” Roxas says before kicking off down the street.

But as always, Axel somehow manages to get there first. It’s like magic, or maybe really good parkour, but either way Axel’s already at the stall, two sea salt ice cream bars in hand and a smirk on his face.

“Consolation prize?” he offers.

“Still feels like first place,” Roxas says, kicking up his skateboard and tucking it under his arm before taking the proffered ice cream.

They start walking around the lines of the tram, following it around the square and toward the apartment buildings, near the walls of the city and that mysterious crack in the wall that leads back to the old mansion outside of town. The mansion that, until last summer, hadn’t been known to anyone.

It’s a mystery, the only thing that makes this quiet, idyllic town interesting. The only piece that Roxas could swear he feels magic from, real and pulsing and alive and clawing at his edges. Telling him that there’s more to this world. More than this world, the tiny one he’d been brought up into, the tiny town that never changes.

“So hey, Axel…”

“Yeah?”

“Do you believe in magic?”

There’s a pause, a moment where Roxas looks up at Axel and watches him lick his lips and tilt his head in thought. “Why not,” he finally says. “There’s nothing to prove it isn’t real.”

Maybe he doesn’t feel it, even though he works at the mansion. Maybe Hayner was right all those months ago when the crack in the wall appeared and everyone refused to acknowledge the magic that seeped through, the energy that drove every housepet into a howling frenzy for a week (and of course everyone blamed it on the full moon even though it had never happened before).

Or maybe… just maybe, Axel is lying.

~

The surprise is a modest collection of popsicle sticks, each with the _Winner!_ crown emblazoned on the end. Axel drops the ziploc full of them into Roxas’ hands.

“I heard sugar’s good for retaining info in the brain, so get your study material memorized,” Axel says, pushing him toward the school gates. “I’ll see you in a couple weeks, when exams are over? Don’t forget about me, ‘kay?”

Not that Roxas could ever forget Axel and the way magic seemed to roll off of him in waves.

He grins up at him. “Sure thing. I’ll miss you. Don’t get in too much trouble at work, if your vacation time gets cut short this summer’ll be no fun.”

“No promises, kid,” Axel says, giving him another push.

When Roxas turns around to correct him, he’s already gone.

~

The rest of the day is a blur, right up until the bell signalling the end of last period rings. Roxas frowns at the texts he’s gotten from Olette, all letting him know about how Hayner skipped afternoon classes for the day. But it’s probably fine.

Hayner’s always been hard-headed, but they still have their plans.

 _roxas_ _  
_ _ >>i’ll be at the usual spot in a bit. heard u skipped afternoon classes? _

It doesn’t take too long for the response to come:

 _hayner_ _  
_ _ >>talk later, hideout now. b4 the rest get here. _

Roxas raised an eyebrow. He grabs his skateboard from his locker and kicks off as soon as he’s through the doors, weaving through the other Twilight High students and out the gates. The streets are empty still, so it’s a straight shot to the usual spot with not a person in sight. Roxas glides down the hills and rolls into the hideout without much trouble at all.

“We’ve got a few minutes before Pence and Olette get here,” Hayner says in way of greeting, from his perch on top of the stack of crates by the wall.

“What’d you wanna talk about that they can’t hear?” Roxas asks, honestly curious as he steps off his skateboard and sets it against the way. “Olette says you’re not happy with me.”

Hayner rolls his eyes. “Of course she’d say that.”

“So what’s up?” Roxas sits back on the ratty couch they’d once commandeered from Pence’s neighbour. It’s a bit lumpy, but still comfy. And it was free.

“What’s with you not telling me about Axel?”

Roxas smiles sheepishly. Straight to the point, as usual. “Well, I figured I’d hold off,” he says. “On everyone. Things have a way of always getting back to my parents, and we haven’t even done anything other than hang out together and they’re already up in arms about it.”

“Because you’re not straight.”

“Because I’m not straight,” Roxas echoes in response. “And honestly do you blame me? Imagine the headline, ‘Mayor’s son, gay’ emblazoned on every damn newspaper.”

“You told _Olette_ , and even Pence knew before I did. And didn’t you tell me Axel was a total creep?” Hayner’s voice rises in volume with every point made. “So excuse me if I’m just trying to understand why the fuck you wouldn’t just tell me--”

“What do you want me to say? Sorry?” Roxas interrupts, getting annoyed. “You want me to apologize for trying to keep something secret in this tiny town that barely grants me any privacy at all? You want me to apologize for trying to protect something that, for barely three days, was mine?”

“I don’t fucking know!” Hayner throws up his hands. “I just expected you to trust me? This town has been changing ever since last year and you have too, Roxas. I’m over it.”

Roxas grits his teeth. “Well sorry I’ve been busy growing up without you.”

There’s a silence that follows, and they glare at each other from across the room. Had that seriously been on his mind all this time? He figured it’d just be new information, tucked and filed away like everything else they’d shared over the years. Just like the time Olette found out she was allergic to tomatoes and they had to stop ordering pizza for their meet-ups. Or the time Pence brought his stash of magazines in a cardboard box and no one questioned it until Olette picked up one with a raunchy centerfold and never asked about it again.

They all had their secrets. Every single one of them. But Roxas couldn’t have his?

“This town is changing, can’t you feel it?” Hayner finally says. “Pence says change is good.”

“Maybe it is,” Roxas agrees. “But this change? Us? What the fuck happened to us, Hayner?”

They’ve been friends since before Roxas can remember, but he’d never felt so distant from him before. Things were changing. They have been ever since the crack first appeared in the wall and the Organization showed up out of seemingly nowhere and asked to rent the building outside of the town’s borders.

The town had been rebuilding ever since, the new money used to repave the roads and fix the old clock tower, among other things.

Change is good.

Change is…

“I don’t know. But you said it yourself, Axel is a creep. So what are you doing with him?”

Roxas isn’t sure he’s ready to tell him why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was fairly fun to write :3 i hope it was fun to read! lemme know what u thought in the comments


	4. silence

Roxas stares at his shoes, fingers gripping into the edge of the old worn cushions of the couch. “I don’t need to explain myself to you.”

In the long, permeating silence that follows, Hayner wonders if this is what it feels like to be Seifer. In a world he doesn’t recognize, with people who can’t give him answers.

Hayner scoffs, hopping down from the crates and landing on the ground. He shoves his hands into his pockets. “Fine,” he says. “Do whatever the hell you want. Just remember who your friends are.”

Hayner doesn’t wait for an answer before walking out.

He doesn’t have a destination in mind, but he can’t stand it there. In the one place he thought was safe from the rest of the town’s changes. Everything was changing, morphing into something he couldn’t understand. Something he didn’t know where to begin with.

Seifer's wallet, still in his pocket, feels heavier and heavier. The streets are full of students making their way home, crowding the shops in the Tram Common. Seifer’s slicked back blonde hair and long white trench coat is nowhere to be found and Hayner finds himself searching out a quiet corner to stake out. He checks his messages while skirting the tram rails.

Nothing yet. Though he’s sure Olette will be on his case soon--

“Two sea salt ice creams.”

“Sorry, we’ve just sold our last one--”

“RAGE.”

Hayner looks up from his phone long enough to recognize Rai and Fu at the ice cream stand. His nose scrunches up. He wasn’t looking for them, but if they were here, then maybe…

He looks around again, but no dice. His eyes catch the ice cream stand again, the line slowly dissipating from disappointment, but Rai and Fu are already gone.

Figures.

He continues along the tram rails. They slowly wind him around the quaint market and cozy apartments, straight toward the thing that started everything. Hayner stops for a moment, giving the crack in the wall a long look, trying to feel what Roxas insisted he felt when it first appeared.

He doesn’t feel anything but dread.

~

His phone won’t stop buzzing in his pocket, and by the time Hayner gets home he has a stream of texts from Olette asking what happened, whether he’d be free for another study session that night, where he went, and a demand for him to text her back.

Roxas hasn’t texted him at all.

Hayner flops onto his bed and stares at the popcorn ceiling. The fan that slowly spins from the draft coming through his window. The sun is still out, the wallet still in his pocket.

Where could Seifer have gone? It’s not like there’s much to Twilight Town. Just finding their own little hideout was hard enough when the town had no real secrets (and the ones it did have turned out to be total busts).

He pulls the wallet out of his pocket and flips it open. It’s a standard leather fold-out with an emblem stamped on the front. _Balamb Garden_. Hayner’s never heard of that brand before. But then again, he supposes, he hasn’t heard much about anything Seifer talks about. Seed? Garden? Did he just have a misunderstood green thumb?

Ridiculous.

Hayner slides out the ID he’d looked at earlier. The driver’s license. The passport. The student ID that said Balamb Garden, with a picture of Seifer without the scar across his face. Balamb made as much sense as Galbadia at this point. Hayner frowns at the set of ID and sits back up.

“None of this makes sense,” he mutters to himself. Whatever’s happening to Roxas, wherever Axel and his creepy crowd came from, and Seifer on top of it all?

It’s just too much.

~

School for the rest of the week is a load of bullshit.

Teachers hand out more review assignments and Hayner half-asses his through the lecture instead of listening. Olette’s texting him again, from under her desk where the teacher for their last period of the day can’t see but can definitely figure it out (but Olette’s a model student and it’s the last day of classes, so hell if she’ll get told off for it).

 _olette_ _  
_ _ >>pay attention!! _

Hayner stares at the notification that lights up his screen on his desk, but if he acknowledges it, the teacher will most certainly tell him off. The catch-22 that Olette never seemed to understand. He rolls his eyes, scribbling out the answers to the last of the review questions before promptly going back to staring out the window.

… Seifer’s outside.

Or at least, it looks like Seifer? He’s got a beanie on, but that’s definitely his blonde hair. And while his jacket doesn’t have the sleeves, the ends are still as ratty and frayed as ever. And… Hayner squints, trying to find the scar across the bridge of his nose. The one that tells everyone to stay the hell away from him. The one that Hayner wants to ask about, but he doesn’t have a death wish.

He sticks his hand up.

“Yes, Hayner?”

“Can I have a hall pass? Forgot to grab something from my locker.”

The teacher looks at him, cocking her head ever-so-slightly to signal her suspicion. But it’s the last class on the last day of school and he knows she doesn’t want to be here either.

“Fine,” she says, sliding out the drawer and withdrawing one of the hall pass slips. “Here you go. Don’t be too long,” she adds sternly.

“Sure thing.”

His cell phone is already buzzing with another text from Olette, but he ignores it, rushing down the steps. It’s not like he’s lying. He detours toward his locker to pull out Seifer’s wallet before rushing outside just in case Seifer’s already gone. It’s so hot and humid outside, and Hayner already feels sticky with sweat by the time he gets to the gate.

“What the hell are you doing back here?” he asks as soon as he’s within earshot.

Seifer looks up from his phone, a scowl on his lips. “Oh, it’s you,” he says, clearly unhappy about it.

“Still got your wallet,” Hayner says, waving it in his hand before tossing it to him. “Figured you might want it back.”

Seifer catches it and jams it into his modified trench. Hayner is wholly unsurprised by the muscles he packed under his sleeves, having been a victim of them three times.

“Skipping class?”

“Why do you care?”

“You’re right. I don’t.”

Hayner stares at him. “Good talk,” he says, starting to turn back toward the building. A hand grips his shoulder, the same one that Seifer had bruised the first week he got here. He stops in his tracks.

It still hurt, a phantom pain that followed him around. He’d rather not repeat that incident.

“What now?” he asks.

Seifer watches him intently. “You tell me. Balamb and Galbadia don’t seem to ring any bells, so what about Trabia?”

“How many times do I have to tell you I don’t know anything.”

Seifer’s grip loosens slightly. “You really don’t know anything,” he says, beginning to mutter to himself. “The Sorceress War, the SeeD program...”

“I’ve been trying to tell you that for weeks!”

Seifer scoffs. “You truly are useless.”

“Fuck you too.” Hayner gets shoved back at that. The dull pain starts up again in his shoulder. “You never answered me: what the hell are you doing here?”

“Reclaiming what you took.”

“I didn’t take it, you forgot it,” Hayner says, frustration lacing through his arms and gripping into fists at his sides. “You didn’t even check to make sure I didn’t steal anything. Liar.”

The school bell rings in the distance. Neither of them hear it.

“It’s none of your business what I came here fo--”

Hayner jumps back as Seifer steps forward with his fists out. “You really wanna bruise me _again_?” Hayner interrupts incredulously. “Goddamn, I don’t want to explain another one to the damn counselor. They already think I’m some punk, lumping me with you. Fuck.”

“We’re not even in the same league.”

“Fighting words? Really? At this point you definitely need to join the struggle tournament.”

“Go back to class--”

“First you want to fight me, then you act like my counselor? What the hell.”

Students start filing out of the school, their chatter filling the air. They barely notice, staring each other down.

"Something has to be wrong with you, since you think this town is fucking normal," Seifer says. "You need more than a counselor to fix that."

"What did you say?" Hayner grits his teeth, hands curling into fists.

"You heard me."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i rehauled this chapter like four times but ayyy here it is! i hope you liked it <3


	5. storm

_ olette _ _   
_ _ >>hayner ditched class and i can’t find him _

Roxas frowns, skateboard under his arm, backpack slung over his shoulder. He shuts his locker and starts making his way out.

_ roxas _ _   
_ _ >>im sure he’s fine. he can take care of himself _

And he can. But… Roxas’ frown deepens. He doesn’t want to search for him. It’s been nearly a week and they’re still not talking. He’s not sure he wants to be the bigger person this time, but they’ve never spent this long not talking before. It’s weird. Roxas doesn’t like it.

Being selfish is a lot harder than he ever thought it would be.

_ olette _ _   
_ _ >>you’re still fighting? _

Roxas pockets his phone, taking the staircase down two at a time and rushing out the front doors. Olette’s been poking and prying at him all week, and he’s sure Hayner’s getting the same earful. He doesn’t want to hear it.

He’s about to throw his skateboard down when he sees a crowd gathered by the gate. There’s loud cheering and…

Wait.

No way. Not again.

Roxas rushes over, using his skateboard to shove his way through the throng, and arrives at the edge just in time to see Hayner hit the ground

“Hayner!”

Seifer shoots a glare at him. “A friend of yours? Is he just as fucked up as you are?”

“Shut up!” Hayner yells, propping himself up on his elbows. “You don’t know  _ anything _ about me-- shut up!” He scrambles back up to his feet and goes into a rush.

Roxas jumps between them, his skateboard held out to deflect Hayner’s next blow. “Stop it! You’re gonna get in trouble--”

“What do you care?”

“Maybe you should listen to your friend, he’s making some sense--”

“YOU MOTHERFUCKER.”

Roxas panics. He’s only seen Hayner like this a handful of times before and it’s never ended well. He shoves Hayner back with his skateboard. “Stop it, Hayner,” he says in the calmest voice he can muster, staring him straight in the eye. “You need to stop.”

“Yeah, stop it Hayner--”

“You shut the fuck up, Seifer,” Roxas says, gritting his teeth. “You don’t know what’s going on.”

“He doesn’t know  _ anything _ ,” Hayner adds, breathing heavily. “Nothing.”

“Yeah. Nothing. And we have to go.”

“What, too chicken?”

“Shut up, Seifer,” Roxas says tightly, but it’s already done. Hayner’s fists are back and Roxas’ hands are already out to stop him.

But then: “And what exactly is going on here?”

Busted.

~

Seifer gets let off easy. He’s not a student, just some street hoodlum everyone knows to avoid. Except Hayner, apparently. Roxas glares at the white walls in the secretary’s office.

“I can’t believe you went off the hook again.”

“Fuck off.”

Roxas can tell Hayner’s still tense, adrenaline still running. His lips are set into a permanent scowl, fingers drumming against the arm of the chair, chin propped onto his fist as he glares anywhere but in Roxas’ general direction. He’s beat up and Roxas can see bruises forming on his arms and face. His knuckles and palms are scraped, but not bleeding. Nothing’s bleeding. Small blessings.

“What set it off?”

“Why do you care.”

“I’m your goddamn friend, you idiot.”

“I hate you.”

“And Seifer?”

“Fuck Seifer.”

They’re not in to see the principal, because whenever Hayner is involved, the school has it officially on file that it’s a job for the counselor to solve. But it’s just their luck that the counselor is with another student at the moment. Because of course.

Roxas continues glaring at the wall.

“I thought you were getting better.”

“I  _ am _ better.”

“Didn’t look like it.”

“Fuck you.”

“Sorry, you’re not my type.”

Hayner’s eyes shift to glance at him. His fingers stop drumming. “What.”

“Didn’t you notice? I like them taller.”

He scowls. “Fuck Axel too.”

“I’m trying to.”

Hayner’s outright staring at him now. “What.”

Roxas stares back. “Did I fucking stutter?”

He scoffs and goes back to ignoring him.

The minutes tick by so slowly and Roxas hates this, hates always getting tangled up in Hayner’s messes. It never changes, it’s always the same. No matter how much better Hayner’s doing, no matter how much they all try to keep him out of trouble. He takes his eyes off him for a week and it ends catastrophically.

_ pence _ _   
_ _ >>saw what happened. dw i wont tell olette _

Roxas redirects his glare at his phone and swipes the notification away. “Pence is covering for us. Olette won’t know.”

“Good for him.”

“Fuck man, what do you want from me?”

He’s answered with silence. The clock above the secretary’s desk feels like it’s ticking even slower than before. Roxas almost wonders if something’s wrong with it.

The counselor’s door finally opens, a student walking out before the counselor herself makes an appearance, leaning against the doorframe with folded arms and a pained expression. “Wanna get cleaned up first or does it even matter, Hayner?”

Hayner grimaces, standing up from his chair. Roxas tries not to notice the hard flinch that passes at the movement. “Doesn’t fucking matter. Let’s just get this over with.”

“Want your friend to join us this time?”

Hayner glances back at him, a hurt glare that pins Roxas to his seat. “Do whatever you want.”

A moment later, the door shuts back in his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was fairly harder to write than i initially thought, but i hope y'all enjoyed! lmk in the comments :3 next chapter: we get to meet hayner's counselor properly!


	6. calm(er)

“Wanna talk about it?”

Hayner scowls at the nameplate that sits on his counselor’s desk, Scarlet T. marked off in black letters, the metal scratched up but still gleaming. “No.”

Scarlet starts rummaging through her desk, finally pulling out a pack of disinfectant and bandages and sliding them across her desk. “You’re pretty beat up.”

He takes the disinfectant, spraying his scraped knee and wincing at the sting. “That’s what happens when you get into a fight.”

She grimaces. “I’m well aware. What did Seifer say?”

“That something must be wrong with me and I need more than a counselor to fix it,” he repeats duly, trying his best to not care, to stay calm and relaxed. But there’s an edge to his voice no matter how he tries, and his heart stutters back into a race.

“Do you think there’s something wrong with you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe,” he says quietly, flexing his hands in his lap to stop them from trembling. “A lot of people think so, isn’t that why I’m here?”

“You’re a good kid, Hayner. You just need to show a little self-restraint,” she says. “Now, how are you feeling?”

“Like my skin is crawling.” A beat, then, “I want to hurt something.”

“Ten, nine, eight, seven,” Scarlet starts for him in a slow count. He half-heartedly recites the rest with her, right down to one, and takes a deep breath when she instructs it.

When he exhales, he only feels slightly better.

“You’re lucky Roxas interrupted when he did,” she says. “I don’t want to see you end up in the hospital again.”

“Same.”

“So, what now?”

Hayner takes the bandages and starts wrapping his knee. “I don’t know. Seifer’s a fucking ass, I don’t even know what he’s talking about.” Come to think of it… it’s a long shot, but he might as well ask: “Do you know anything about Galbadia? Or Balamb Garden?”

“What, is that what Seifer’s been asking about?”

Hayner nods, tightening the bandages and tying it off with a knot. “I don’t need help, but he sure does. I’ve never heard of those places.”

“Neither have I,” she says. “But, you could always ask him more about them. If they’re important to him, then you need to be able to take him seriously. After all, he’s asking you, not someone else.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know  _ why _ .”

“You can’t change the other side of the equation. You can only change yourself. If you can do that, you might get different results.”

He’s heard that before, so many times. “I don’t know how to.”

“You’ll figure it out. What about Roxas?”

Hayner scowls. “What about him?”

“How are you guys lately?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Scarlet frowns. “Okay, we don’t have to. But he’s still outside waiting his turn to see me. Do you want to tell me your side of the story?”

“... No. I think he should be the one that tells you, if he even wants to.” If Roxas is so set on keeping everything a secret, then he has no right to tell, right?

“If you say so. How was your last appointment with your therapist?”

“Useless.”

“What did you guys talk about?”

“I don’t know. Some bullshit about being assertive.”

His counselor nods. “Ah. Being assertive rather than aggressive. Think it would work with Seifer?”

“He prowls around like a fucking alpha, how would that help?”

“Being assertive just means being more in control,” she says with a shrug. “From what I’ve heard, he’s all about taking that control away from you to get what he wants. Think it would help now?”

“Dunno. Maybe.”

“Okay, so let’s work a bit on how to put that into practice.”

~

Sunset Terrace is the only place where the world is silent. It’s where Hayner’s feet lead him when he finally leaves the counselor’s office. The underground passages that run through Twilight Town are quiet at this hour, and he’d rather take them than a crowded train. So he heads to the nearest entrance and makes his way through them.

His phone ran out of battery sometime during the session, but he doesn’t care. Olette’s constant prodding, Pence’s reassurances, Roxas’.... Hayner scowls. He doesn’t care about any of it. And he doesn’t care if it’s late or if his mom will be worried or wherever the hell Seifer is either because everyone is so loud and judgmental and Sunset Terrace seems like a good idea.

Twilight Town’s eternal sunset is always the brightest in the evenings, when the sky turns a brilliant red. Hayner sits on the bench on top of the tallest hill and stares out at the sky. It’s quiet, his only company the one wayward dog whose favourite place seems to be that hill (much to his owner’s constant stress).

Something about Sunset Terrance and this hill makes him forget everything, mind going blank and calm. Calmer than counting down from ten or drinking tea. And with the issues everyone has him trying to fix, it’s the best therapy he’s got.

The dog comes up to his waist, but it still acts like a lapdog, fluffy head in Hayner’s lap. He absently scratches behinds it’s ears as he thinks about absolutely nothing. The bruises don’t hurt, the phantom pains in his shoulder leave, his anger fades, and the sunset burns bright.

“Why can’t my mind be like this all the time?” he asks the dog.

The dog nuzzles his side.

“Right.”

~

That night, he ends up at the hideout. He drags out blankets and pillows from the cardboard boxes along the walls and sets up on the lumpy couch. It’s better than going home. It’s better than dealing with his mom, who never listens, never looks at him with anything but disappointment while complaining about all the money she throws down the drain for therapy for him.

_ If it’s such a problem, why bother? _

“Thought you might be here.”

Hayner looks up from the blank screen of his phone. “What do you want.” He’s too tired for the words to have any real bite.

Roxas stands in their makeshift entrance, pushing aside the sheet they use as door. A duffel bag is slung over his arm. “You wanted things to go back to normal. This is normal.”

He’s not wrong. Every other time Hayner got into a fight, they stuck it out here. Whether they were running into problems or from them, they would camp out here until it passed over. Their own form of therapy without the clipboards or adults or judgment.

“Things can’t go back to normal this time, Roxas.”

“Why not?” Roxas joins him on the couch, sitting next to him and fiddling with the black and white rings on his fingers. “It’s not like things will stop changing. We’re always gonna be growing and changing. You can’t stop that. But we can try to make the best of it.”

“You sound like my goddamn therapist.”

“How was your meeting with the school counsellor?”

“Fine.” Hayne says shortly.

“She asked me what happened between us,” Roxas starts carefully. “Told me you wouldn’t tell her your side of the story because it’s my story to tell.”

“So?”

“Thanks. For not saying anything.”

“Whatever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk why it took so long to write this chapter, but here it is! hope u enjoyed <3

**Author's Note:**

> So in case the summary didn't tip you off (or you have absolutely no backing in Final Fantasy VIII, which is totally fine!), this fic is a bit of a take on why Seifer isn't in Traverse Town with Leon, and how the whole "destroyed worlds" thing works, especially since Twilight Town and Traverse Town both occupy the realm between light and dark. Essentially: maybe there's not only one place you can end up being dropped into if your world is destroyed.
> 
> There'll be some references to the events of FFVIII, but it's not mandatory at all to read on :)


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